Kees vonk:
BUILDING THE FUTURE TOGETHER
In addition to a seventy-year history, KH Engineering has a long-term future ahead, says Commercial Manager Kees Vonk. ‘Together we are building that future: on the one hand by working increasingly closely with our customers, and on the other by innovating and expending services and markets.’
‘After seventy years of KH Engineering, I cannot avoid looking back for a moment,’ says Kees Vonk. ‘Shortly after the Second World War, Willem Keyer and Henck Ness met behind the drawing board. And together they decided to establish the predecessor of KH Engineering in 1949 to contribute to the rebuilding the industry in the Netherlands. In 2020, that same industry is still one of the driving forces behind the success of our - now full-service multidisciplinary - engineering company. But for the rest a lot has changed. Our company developed across the breadth of services and markets, and also geographically: we now work in the Netherlands and Belgium and increasingly in Germany. '
Process Engineering and EPCM
Vonk mentions the formation and expansion of the Process Engineering department as the first important milestone in the professionalization of KH Engineering. ‘People work there who know our customers' processes through and through and who can work out process improvements, for example for lower environmental impact or higher quality / quantity in production. Another important development is the growth towards EPCM services: for a growing number of customers, we are carrying out very large projects including all engineering, procurement and construction management. '
WORK TOGETHER AT THE SAME TIME
According to Vonk, the biggest change in recent years is that all technical disciplines work together simultaneously on a (3D) design. ‘It used to be sequential. Now we all work synchronously and mostly location-independently. We call it competitor engineering. Good communication has become more important than ever.’ That is one of the reasons that KH Engineering is working on a common communication platform with the customer. Vonk: ‘This way we can make communication even stronger and shorten lead times. In addition, the customer immediately receives real-time insight into the design process and the client can set ”live” priorities in our work. That is a new step towards even more transparency and digitization of work processes.’
A BRIGHT FUTURE
Looking ahead, Vonk sees a bright future for KH Engineering. ‘First of all: as long as we as consumers continue to consume and we have industrial companies in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, there is also a future for our firm. Installations always have to be adapted, as the past seventy years in process industry in our countries has proven.
I also see geographical growth opportunities for KH Engineering: we are already working more and more in Germany and I can only see that increasing. Logical: the industries in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany are strongly interconnected, sometimes even physically with pipelines.’
Innovation and transition
An important final growth path is that of innovation and transition. ‘The chemical industry in particular can play a leading role in the energy and raw materials transition, because it is very flexible and can adapt its processes to new technologies. For example, with nanotechnology, and new materials from aerospace. Think of paints that never fade or clothes that you never have to wash. These new technologies will permanently change the chemical process industry. And the fossil market will gradually develop towards green chemistry, based on renewable raw materials. Within the pharma industry, products are continuously developed and economies of scale are important to continue to provide the world population with new and as of yet unknown needs.’
All these developments require new adjustments to and construction of new installations and it makes our work field fascinating. In short: I predict a dynamic future for KH Engineering, in which we play an important role in “building the future”!